New Zealand XIII: Beach Before Goodbye

Jan 15, 2011

Today was my final day in New Zealand! I woke early and gave Alex a ring on the hostel pay phone. We had made plans the night before to head to the beach before I went to the airport. Alex and some pals picked me up and took me to his favorite beach, which is where he also met Heather for the first time long ago. How fitting! It was a gorgeous spot and the weather was perfect. We enjoyed the morning relaxing at the beach, before I returned to the city to catch the airport shuttle to the airport (duh). I pestered Alex that he has to come to the states soon so that I can return the generous hospitality he has shown to me. He assured me that he wanted to come to the states as soon as possible. Heather and I are both ready to entertain Alex, and any other Kiwi for that matter. As much fun as it is to explore a new world, it's just as much fun to help other's discover your own.

My time in new Zealand was beyond incredible. But now it was time to embark on a new adventure, this time alone. That evening I boarded a flight to Cairns, Australia. I was about to embark on a three week journey down the east coast of Australia from Cairns all the way back to Sydney. Operation backpacker, explorer and traveler was in high gear!

New Zealand XII: Rangitoto Island & Kicking It With Kiwis

Jan 14, 2011

This morning I rose and hopped on a ferry to Rangitoto Island. Rangitoto Island is the largest and youngest volcanic cone in the Auckland volcanic field. It erupted over 600 years ago. Today it is an extinct volcano that is open to the public for hikes and such. The Island was covered in hard, black molten lava. There were no paved roads, only pebbly paths that were difficult to walk on. I hiked up the 260 meter high summit where I witnessed an awesome 360 view of Auckland and the Hauraki Bay. It was stunning. But the hike up was a workout, let me tell you. Getting to the top was no easy feat. I was panting and sweating like I'd just ran a marathon by the time I reached the top. But the view was well worth the workout- it was stunning.

The ferry ride over to the island

Rangitoto Island

The cooled lava from 600 years ago

The lava goes on and on and on...

View from the summit

I found a cave too

The walk down the mountain was much more enjoyable. But once at the bottom I was faced with the dilemma of what to do next. The problem with being on the island was that I was stranded on it temporarily. That's because the ferry only came once every 3-4 hours. So I had to figure out a way to entertain me, myself and I for a while. I ended up exploring the island, roaming by the baches that lined the water's edge. These were little cottages that families owned or rented and used as summer homes. They were cute, ranging in shape, size and colors. At one point I thought the homes were deserted, and thus gave myself the greenlight to hop on a tire swing hanging in a yard. Then, upon closer examination of the yard I noticed that there were clothes hanging out to dry in the backyard. Oops. Unsure whether or not my swinging constituted as trespassing, I slyly disembarked and snuck off to down the road.

The Baches

Eventually the ferry came back to claim me and the other passengers. I returned to the city where I used my networking skills to make evening plans with some local Kiwis. See, my dear friend from New Haven, Heather, studied abroad in Auckland when she was in college. During that time she befriended numerous local Kiwis. When I told her I was going to Auckland, she kindly put me in contact with one of her Kiwi pals,  Alex. I conversed back and forth with Alex while in Sydney, asking him for advice about where to go in New Zealand and what to do. Picking the brain of a local is the absolute best way to make your experience at a new place an exceptional one! Alex was beyond helpful, offering great insight about what Laura and I could and should do when we arrived. He also offered to show us around Auckland when there.

Since I was now alone, I decided to give Alex a call. He invited me to join him and his friends at a barbecue that a pal of his was having. I was touched by his willingness to invite me, a stranger, to hang out with him and his friends.  Spending the evening with a bunch of Kiwi locals was an offer I couldn't turn down. So I hopped on another ferry, this time taking me across the bay to Devonport, a harbourside suburb of Auckland, where Alex picked me up. After swinging by the supermarket to pick up some goods for the barbecue, we made our way to the party. I must admit that at first things were a bit awkward because let's face it, we were strangers just bordering on acquaintances due to our brief facebook messaging. But after a few minutes of "getting to know you" chit chat, the awkwardness disappeared. Alex introduced me to all of his friends as "my friend Sarah" and they in turn introduced me to other guests as "Alex's American friend Sarah." Which was humorous because really we had known each other for 10 minutes. I just chuckled when everyone asked me how I knew Alex, and explained that we had a mutual friend. Everyone at the barbecue was so friendly and welcoming to me. I really enjoyed the evening, chatting, joking and laughing with everyone about this and that. Alex especially went above and beyond to make sure I was comfortable and having a good time. I was overwhelmed by his generosity and willingness to welcome me so warmly into his circle of friends, all because we shared a mutual friend. I told Heather that he must have really liked her to invite her random friend to hang out with him and his pals. I owe her a big one.

New Zealand XI: Goodbye Sis, Hello Auckland

Jan 13, 2011

This was it. Today was the day that Laura left me and ventured back home to New York. I couldn't believe how quickly the past 10 days had flown by, nor could I wrap my brain around just how much we had seen and done in such a short period of time. In my book, we were backpacking champions. The Speers travelers extrordinaire. Which is why we squeezed in one last tourist sighting before heading back to the Auckland airport.

After checking out of our hostel for the last time, we stopped at the Whakarewarewa Forest which is famous for its towering California Coastal Redwood trees. We embarked on a brief walk through the forest, enjoying our remaining time together and reflecting back on what an incredible trip we had. We didn't dilly-dally too long because we had a deadline to meet: Madame Vitz had to be back in her owner's garage by 3:00pm on the dot.

The Whakarewarewa Forest

I wonder how old that tree is?

If you believe it you can achieve it, right?

The Redwood figurines

On the drive back to the rental car place, my heart was pounding. I had managed to go the entire trip without getting so much as a scratch on Madame Vitz, and I was worried that in the final leg of our trip I was going to ruin it. Isn't that always how it goes? My toes were crossed as the pressed the pedals, and I continually muttered, "Please don't get in an accident. Please let me get my deposit back. Please stay good looking Madame Vitz." We were so close to the finish line, and yet so far. My nerves were tingling all over.

And then Laura pointed at her window and cried out, "REAL FRUIT ICE CREAM!!" Immediately, my fears disappeared and I slammed on the brakes, pulling a u-turn to go back and investigate if Laura really saw what she said she saw. You may be confused at this point, wondering "Where did this commotion come from?" I will tell you. From the start of our trip Laura and I have been dying to eat New Zealand's real fruit ice cream. We are both ice cream addicts. If I could eat ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner I would. It's the soft serve ice cream I'm talking about, with its smooth, creamy texture that swirls so elegantly upwards creating a mound of seductive, heavenly goodness. (I don't know about you but I'm salivating). Ice cream makes my world go round. And this ice cream looked liked the soft serve ice cream of all soft serve ice creams. Why? Because they add fresh fruit into the ice cream, blend it up and then press it into a cone right when you order it. I've seen real fruit in hard ice cream (and even then, it's been sitting in a freezer for months if not years), but never have I ever seen just-picked-from-the-farm fresh fruit blended into soft serve ice cream. Never. We had to have it, but hadn't yet because either the places we were at didn't have it or when we went to get some the shops were closed. It was the one thing on our list of things to try in new Zealand that we had yet to do. And here it was before us in our final hours! It was meant to be. Fate wouldn't let us depart from the island without fulfilling our dreams of indulging in real fruit ice cream.

The sign that changed our lives. 

We were giddy little girls at the counter. I ordered mine with raspberries. Laura ordered hers with blackberries. My eyes lit up when I saw the fresh, ruby red raspberries tumble into the machine. I wiped the drool from my lip as I watched them blend magically into the ice cream, tainting it pink. And then it was in a cone in my hand. It was love at first bite. Of all the ice creams in the world, this is bar far the best I have ever tasted. It's on a whole other ice cream level. You'll just have to trust me on this one.

With "Eat real fruit ice cream" now checked off our list, we could at last continue on to the car rental shop without a single ounce of regret. Unfortunately, the nerves came returned once we were back in the car. I re-crossed my toes and took off. A half hour later I pulled into the car rental shop, parked the car, and let out a deep sigh of relief. We had made it in one piece. Almost. All that was left was to fill the gas tank and hand over the keys. I naively thought that there would be a gas station on the car rental premise. Sound the buzzer because I was wrong. No such luck. Which meant that I had to take Madame Vitz back out into the chaotic streets of Auckland to find a gas station so I could fill the tank. My anxiety sprung back up, this time higher than before. "This is it," I thought. "I'm going to damage Madame Vitz after safely returning once." BUT I DIDN"T!! We made it to the station and back safely. This time I parked the car in the lot and let out two huge sighs of relief. I handed over the keys and they handed over my $2,000 deposit (well, swiped it on my card, but you get me).

Speers girls will be coming to see you soon enough.

After we parted ways, I headed into the city of Auckland and settled into my hostel. Then I went out and explored the city streets. Auckland reminded me of Sydney. It was the closest thing to an actual city as we know it that I saw in New Zealand. Most refreshing to see is that the streets were actually crowded! That's probably because nearly two-thirds of New Zealand's entire population lives in Auckland. Crazy, huh?

That evening I walked to and then climbed up Mt. Eden, one of Auckland's most famous landmarks. Mt. Eden is an inactive volcano that offers breathtaking views of Auckland. It also has a really cool crater at the top that adds a dramatic flare to the scenic view. While the walk was a bit exhausting, the incredible view up top was well worth it.

Auckland over the crater

The intimidating crater. If you fell down you would not be able to climb back out. It was steep. 

Auckland!

On the other side of the hill...more hills =)

New Zealand X: Jumping to Rotorua

Jan 12, 2011

Today we drove to Rotorua, the area in New Zealand known for its geothermal activity, geysers and hot mud pools. But first we took a brief detour. An adventure detour. An adrenaline-rush detour. A detour to Taupo, home of New Zealand's highest water touch bungy jump. Oh yes. You didn't think we'd leave New Zealand without bungy jumping, did you? Good. I knew you knew better. We walked into Taupo Bungy NZ, signed our lives away and were standing on a ledge 144 meters above water just minutes later. That's when I looked down and gulped. As the older sister, I volunteered to go first. The instructors wasted no time putting me in the bungy gear, and the next thing I knew I was being instructed to walk towards the ledge. I felt like Wendy walking the plank, only Peter Pan wasn't waiting below to catch me. Nothing was below to catch me except for a lake. A lake that was a long, long, longgggggg way away.

The Spot over the Waikato River

It's a lot farther down than it looks from this picture

The Big Jump

I shuffled my feet to the edge of the ledge (I couldn't walk because my ankles were tied together). I looked down. My hear stopped beating. I experienced a brief moment of panic when I thought, "What did I get myself into?!" (mixed in with lots of explicatives). But there was no time to linger on this fear, because suddenly the instructor behind me was counting, "And jump on 3-2-1. Jump!" I froze. And then I took a huge breath in, raised my arms above my head and, on the exhale, drove off the tower. This was followed by an ear-shattering scream. I don't think I have ever screamed like that in my entire life. I'm not the screaming type. On roller-coasters I laugh. Skydiving, even, I laughed. But for a few brief moments I felt like I was plummeting to my death. And then the bungy suddenly snapped my body back to life as I rose up in the air and fell rapidly back down again until I hung with my body dangling meters above the water. It was scary. It was exhilarating. It was unlike anything I've ever done before. It was awesome. I loved every second of it. I would do it again in a heart beat. In fact, I wish I could bungy every morning when I woke up. It would be a perfect start to everyday. I think Laura would agree with me. And she has a video of her jump, so if you're really curious you can come over and watch the action unfold before your very own eyes.

With that checked off the list, we carried on to Rotorua...


Thermal Pools and A Volcanic Valley


As we approached Rotorua, Laura and I stopped at the Waikite Valley Thermal Pools, which is a natural thermal bathing complex. We parked the car and walked around the site, observing massive clouds of steam that were raising from the ground. This turned out to be steam that came from the Otamakokore Stream which was boiling below. This stream has the the largest discharge of boiling water in New Zealand from a single source. It looked hot! I'm pretty sure if we stuck our hand in the boiling river it would have burned right off. 

Waikite Thermal Pools

the boiling Otamakokore River

Next, we ventured to the Waimangu Volcanic Valley, the world's newest geothermal system. We spent about two hours walking through this jurassic valley, where we saw unique ecology, rare botany and numerous geothermal features. Most of these features were a result of th eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886. I felt like I had entered Jurassic Park, post dinosaurs going extinct.

The Volcanic Valley

First we passed Southern Crater, which is filled with a cold lake called Emerald Lake. 

Emerald Lake in South Crater

Then we viewed Eco Crater and Frying Pan Lake, one of the world's largest hot springs. You can see the bubble and steam rising off the lake below. 

Eco Crater and Frying Pan Lake

Next we observed the Cathedral Rocks, a massive rhyolitic lava formation that is more than 60,000 years old. 

Cathedral Rock

All the while we strolled along the very hot Waimangu Stream, which weaved throughout the valley and its jurassic forests. The stream extremely hot and full of silica. 

Strolling through the forest

The Waimangu River (it's hot!!)

Silica in the river. 

Next we stopped off at Inferno Crater. This is the largest geyser-like feature in the world, and was the most incredible color blue of any lake I've seen thus far. It was so bright and so blue that I actually had to put my sunglasses on to look at it. 

Inferno Crater

Lastly, we observed Buttressess Marble Terrace. These marble buttressess were built one layer at a time. The orange that you see is silica. 

From this volcanic valley, we began to head back to the hostel in Rotorua. But first we decided to stop off at another uniquely New Zealand adventure spot- Zorb Rotorua. Zorb, or zorbing as the actual ride is called, is essentially a globe ride. You climb into a big, inflatable globe-ball and roll down a hill. The globe is filled with water so it is sort of like going down a water slide, except in a big ball. Laura and I were all gung-ho about going Zorbing. The website promised it would be the "ride of our lives," and past participants raved about how much fun it was. But when Laura and I pulled up the Zorbing site, our excitement quickly dissipated. It just wasn't exactly what our powerful imaginations had conjured up in our minds. I envisioned a massive hill with a never ending Zorbing path that would take me on an unforgettable, roller coaster-like ride. What I found was a small, wimpy hill that would barely be fun to sled down, nonetheless Zorb down. We watched others Zorb down the hill and it took a whopping 10 seconds to roll down. Paying $50 bucks for 10 seconds in a plastic ball water-slide seemed a bit silly. I'd much rather put that money towards a slip and slide that I can slide down over and over again. Plus, after our incredible morning experience bungy jumping, this paled in comparison. Hence, we passed on the Zorbing thing. But I do love the word Zorb. Isn't it fun? 

The Zorbing Hill- where the "ride of your life" goes down

That evening Laura and I enjoyed a lovely picnic along the ocean, complete with cider, cheese, crackers, fruit, nuts and chocolate. Another perfect ending to another perfect day in New Zealand. 

New Zealand IX: Napier

Jan 11, 2011

Monday morning Laura and I caught the Interisland ferry back up to the north island. As soon as we reached land, we set off for Napier, New Zealand's art deco city on the beach. Art deco is an eclectic artistic and design style that uses linear symmetry (like the Chrysler Building, for example). Thus, Napier looked very different from New Zealand's other cities. I felt like I had time-warped into the 70's, but it was a travel back in time that I enjoyed. We strolled along the boardwalk, passing through public gardens and statues. My favorite was the Millennium Statue, which was a massive silver ball positioned in the center of a large blue arc. It reminded me of something straight out of my favorite television series, Lost: like a big magnetic force field that was going to send me to another place and time. It's not that far-fetch actually; I was on an island after all. My other favorite sighting was the Opossum World. Only in New Zealand. We take our children to Disneyworld, and they take theirs to Opossum World. I cringe to think what one would find inside.

The art-deco street of Napier

Millennium Statue

We decided that tonight would be the perfect night to treat ourselves to a nice dinner. After over a week of rice and beans, our desensitized taste buds were ready to experience some real New Zealand cuisine. The problem was finding a place to eat; nearly every restaurant was closed! It was bizarre to me that in summer when tourism is at its peak that nearly every restaurant was closed at 6:30 p.m. Fortunately, the one restaurant that was open also had the most alluring menu. Most of the restaurants we saw had the same menu more or less: fish and chips, nachos, burgers and lasagna. Pacifico, on the other hand, had a unique menu that reminded me of something you would see on Top Chef.

Laura and I entered Pacifico at 7:00. The place was hopping (probably because it was the only restaurant open). We were told it would be a half hour wait, so we put our name on the list and left quickly to pick up some groceries. We returned at 7:30 on the dot. We were told, "It will just be a little while longer. If you'd like to have a seat at the bar we'll let you know when your table is ready." So we sat at the bar and ordered a glass of wine to sip while we waited. We sipped and waited, and sipped and waited. We chatted with the bartender who was a lovely German girl working in New Zealand, just like I had done in Australia. We spoke with the owner who turned out to be from California, as well as with a local woman who was originally from Chicago but had been living in Napier for the past 7 years because she started her own winery. We sipped and waited some more.

Finally, we got seated at 8:45- more than an hour later! Needless to say our stomachs were aching for some good cooking, but we quickly realized that being seated do not equate to being fed. The service was incredibly S-L-O-W. It had been at the bar too. While we were sitting, sipping and waiting I had asked to look at a menu. The manager said "sure" and then proceeded to go do other things before returning minutes later and handing us the menus that were literally on the other side of the bar. It was painful. Pacifico was a small place and by the time we sat most of the other patrons were finished, so we couldn't understand why a server had yet to approach us. I was beginning to sense some age discrimination since we clearly were of the young backpacking sort, not the old, wealthy and pretentious sort.  At last our waiter came over with bread and butter in hand. When he put them on the table I shot Laura a look of disbelief. We burst out laughing. The "bread" was the size of a turd. One bite and it was gone. Really? After all that waiting the very least they could do was at least give us 2 turd bread balls, if not an entire basket full. Then we came to find out that the awesome dinner menu we had read was actually only starter size portions, rather than entree size. The idea is that you order lots of them as you would tapas so that you can sample many different culinary delights. Laura and I were prepared to splurge, but on a meal that was going to leave us full and satisfied not on a bite size appetizer. By now it was well past 9:00 p.m., so we weren't even that hungry anymore. We each eventually ordered one item. Laura ordered the sweet corn tortellini with tomatoes. I ordered the ostrich carpacio with Parmesan polenta. Yup, you read that right- I ate an ostrich and I liked it! Thank goodness the food was incredibly delicious, otherwise I may have gotten up and left. And it was ridiculously yummy tasting. I would be willing to go through that torturous long wait again in order to have another bowl of ostrich (slightly kidding). After our "main meal" we proceeded to wait for what felt like another eternity until our waiter came over and took our dessert order. We just shook our heads laughing in disbelief, joking about how it was now 10:00 p.m. and past our bedtime. Had it not been for the fact that we were dying to have the raspberry souffle for dessert, we would have called it a night. Our waiter finally acknowledged our extreme patience and brought us each a complimentary glass of wine along with our dessert (which was scrumptious, btw). The perfect ending to an unusual night out.

New Zealand VIII: Kaikoura- The Real Seaworld

Jan 10, 2011

Laura and I departed from Christchurch in the early morning and headed to Kaikoura, a beautiful town on the northeast coast of the south island that is known for its sea food and high density of sea creatures. On the drive up I nearly ran over a seal that was crossing the road! We both found this quite amusing. Apparently, New Zealand needs to add "seal-crossing" signs along its roadways. We arrived to Kaikoura around noon. After taking in the stunning view of the ocean and surroundings, we headed into town to sample some seafood. Kaikoura, which means "meal of crayfish," is known for its crayfish (surprise, surprise). We felt it was only appropriate, therefore, to try crayfish. That didn't happen however, because crayfish is quite costly. Way to costly for two backpackers to afford. Instead we split a seafood basket of fried calamari, scallops and fish. This alternative was just ok; not the most scrumptious seafood my lips have tasted, but I won't hold it against Kaikoura. Limited dollars means limited satisfaction in the seafood department, no matter where you are.

View of Kaikoura Coast

City of crawfish

Most tourists go to Kaikoura to go whale watching (supposedly one of the best places in the world to do so) and to kayak with dolphins. Both options were highly appealing to Laura and I, but participation in both was a little more pricey than we were willing to pay. (Oh, if only we were millionaires!) So instead we decided to go on a 2.5 hour walk on the Kaikoura Coast Track. It was gorgeous outside; a perfect day for a walk. The Kaikoura Cost Track was a long but stunning walk. We could see so many diverse land formations in one place: the ocean, beach, snow-capped mountains; rock formations; rainforsts; and woods. We even walked through farmland complete with haystacks and grazing cows! (For a brief moment I thought I had teleported to Iowa). It was unreal to see cows grazing on a cliff alongside an ocean full of whales and dolphins with a snowy mountain in the backdrop. Amazing.

View from the Coast Track 

The Coast Track through fields

Look: Haystacks, cows, ocean, mountains and snow. All in one.

Most cool to see on the Coast Track was the spot called "Seal Colony." The map we were following said it was a favorite seal hang-out spot, and to our delight it was right. We saw at least 4-5 seals snoozing, lounging and sunbathing on the rocks. For the most part they paid no attention to the mesmerized tourists surrounding them with cameras and flashes, but when someone got to close for their comfort they let you know by barking loudly at the person. Yup, seeing that kept me at a few arms length away from the cute fellows. I could just see the headlines: "American girl attacked by irritated seal." Of course, my intention was to befriend one and take him back with me to be my pet and best friend, just like in the movie Andre. I'm still dreaming. But really and truly, the seals were so much fun to see.

The walk turned out to be much longer than I had anticipated. Two-and-a-half hours on paper looks much more pleasant than actually walking for 2.5 hours. My first mistake was not wearing proper walking shoes. My feet were throbbing after climbing the pebbly path up and down the hillside in sandals. Ouch. My second mistake was not bringing water. Huge mistake. I think by the end I became a tad delirious. Laura would probably say a lot delirious, as she was walking a few meters ahead of me as to pretend she didn't know me. What's wrong with singing at the top of your lungs in the middle of open hay fields beside the sea? Nothing. It's perfectly normal, I think. I was very considerate and put my vocal cords on mute whenever others passed by so as not to humiliate Laura (although that was the whole fun of it). My point is that the coast track was long, it was hot, I was thirsty, my feet hurt and singing was the only thing that kept me going. The moral of the story is to be prepared when you go on a long walk: wear sneakers and bring water!

We're tough. We made it!

Despite my fear that we may never reach civilization, we did arrive back at Kaikoura 3 hours later. After gulping down a few jugs of water we watched a band, Parachute Crew, that was performing for free outside in the center of town. Once rejuvenated, we were back on the road again. We drove a few hours to Picton where we rested for the night.

New Zealand VII: Moving Back Up & On To Christchurch

Jan 9, 2011

Laura and I had journeyed as far down the south island as our schedule would allow. Today it was time to move back up the South island. Our next destination was Christchurch, another well-known New Zealand city. Unfortunately, Christchurch has been in the national news a lot lately because of two earthquakes that struck the city. The first came on January 5th, just days before Laura and I arrived. It was a 3.8 on the Richter Scale. Some buildings were damaged, but for the most part there was minimal damage. The second came on February 22nd. It was a 6.8-magnitude earthquake that left the beautiful city in ruins and took over 150 lives. It was heartbreaking to hear of this devastation, especially because Laura and I had admired the beauty and culture of the city just a month prior. Our prayers go out to those affected by this tragedy. Now, as I reflect back on our day in Christchurch, I am overcome with deep gratitude that we a) were fortunate enough to see this lovely place pre-earthquake damage, and b) that our one day there wasn't the one day that New Zealand's second most deadliest natural disaster occurred. With that said, here's how our day went...

We left Queenstown bright and early to embark on the 7 hour drive ahead of us. I would like to give a shout out to Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguilera, Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts and The Frey who were our musical accompaniments for the drive. Singing along to "Since You've Been Gone" and "Life Is A Highway," among other songs, made the 7 hours fly by. We got to Christchurch (well the outskirts) ahead of schedule, and so decided to take a short detour (so we thought) to a "nearby" peninsula that was ranked #33 on the Kiwi 101 Must-Do list. It said that the quaint town was its own little France; a European getaway within New Zealand. I pictured streets lined with French cottages and cafes serving cheese, cheese and more cheese. I was wrong. The peninsula was not a few minutes out of the way as I had believed. Oh no, it was way the heck out of the way. I was irritated. We were wasting precious time that could be spent exploring Christchurch, a place I was eager to see. We eventually reached Akaroa on Bank's Peninsula where we scarfed down some food and hit the road again. It was a nice enough place, but not a place that two girls who only have 10 days in New Zealand must see. And so we hurried back to Christchurch, a place I am happy to report did not let us down.

Christchurch was an adorable "city", one that Laura and I agreed we could easily live in. However, it didn't feel like a city at all. There were tons of suburban houses lining the streets, unlike the skyscrapers and apartment buildings most commonly found in our US cities. But most bizarre was that there were hardly any people around. When we woke Sunday morning to grab breakfast, we were the only two people walking the city streets, no exaggeration. This is probably due to the fact that nearly every establishment was closed. Not even Starbucks was open! Granted it was 8:00 a.m.on a Sunday morning, but still- I thought cities operated 24/7. I stand corrected. This city was a desolate land. Of course, this wasn't the case when we arrived Saturday afternoon. Had Christchurch been a ghost town when we arrived, I would have swung a U-turn and floored it.

Christchurch is New Zealand's "City of Gardens." Hence why it is so lovely. We strolled along the pathways next to the River Avon which circles the city and its many gardens. Along the way we passed people "punting" on the Avon. I didn't realize it at the time, but punting is an iconic Christchurch experience. Punting is when you sit in a boat and are glided gently down the river by a punter, similar to a gondola ride. It was quite romantic looking. If only a punter had whisked me off my feet and wooed me while punting. (A girl can dream, right?). Then we wandered through the Royal Botanical Gardens which were full of brightly colored, exotic flowers. We also saw the city center which was full of fun monuments and statues, including a life-size chess board.

Flowers in the Royal Botanical Garden

Punting away down the Avon River

In the city center

This one reminds me of a giant ice cream cone...

Fancy a game of chess? Both a mental and physical workout

Laura and I decided that we wanted to experience the indigenous culture of New Zealand and that Christchurch was the place to do it. That evening we went to the Ko Tane Living Maori Village at the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve where we saw a Maori cultural performance. The Maori are the native people of New Zealand whose rich culture of language, art, song and dance impacts all facets of New Zealand life. The cultural show was great. We learned a lot about the Maori culture. For example, we learned that the Maori say hello by simultaneously placing their left hand on one another's shoulder, shaking their right hands, placing their foreheads and nose together, and breathing in two times while staring into each other's eyes. Got that? This greeting is really about sharing. They believe that by placing their foreheads together they are able to share their thoughts, that by breathing in twice they are able to share breaths together and that by looking into one another's eyes they are able to share the gateway to their souls. Makes sense to me.

Maori "hello" looks a lil something like this

I really enjoyed watching the Maori perform their traditional song and dance. The performers had crazy face paint and the most intense facial expressions. Their faces read "fierce," but their voices conveyed harmony, peace and beauty. We even got to participate in the show when the female audience members were recruited on stage to learn and perform the Maori Poi, a dance performed by rhythmically swinging balls on strings. This was not as easy as the Maori women made it look. I was impressed at how in sync they were when they  danced the Poi. I can dance, but getting a ball on a string to move to the beat is no easy task. They made it look like a beautiful breeze. Lastly, we watched them perform a haka, or war dance. This dance has become famous worldwide because their national rugby team, the All Blacks, perform it before each game. If you saw the movie Invictus then you know what I'm talking about. When dancing the haka, they flash their eyes, thrust their tongues and make warlike gestures in the hopes of instilling fear in their enemies. It was intense, but also very cool to see.

The Maori Tribe

Performing a stick dance

The mighty Maori song and dance

Attempting to dance the Poi

How it's suppose to look.

That evening, Laura and I drove to the top of nearby hill where we saw spectacular views of the city and its surroundings below. From here we watched a gorgeous sunset before finally heading back to the hostel for the night.

Overlooking Christchurch

Overlooking the other side of Christchurch

The exquisite sunset